The Kosciusko County economy is stable in the face of an unstable national economy, according to the county Economic Development Corp. KEDCo made the assessment based on the growth or decline of the number of business establishments in a comparison of U.S. Census data for 2000 and 2011. Between those two dates, Kosciusko lost just 11 business establishments from its 2000 number of 1,896. All counties in Northern Indiana saw a loss, though at just 0.6 percent, Kosciusko’s was the second lowest decline behind Allen County. It also compares favorably to the state business decline rate of 1.9 percent. In absolute numbers of businesses, though, Kosciusko also lags behind most other Northern Indiana counties by 3,000 to 7,000. By sector, the most losses were in construction, retail and manufacturing. Gains were largest in professional services, health care and finance/insurance. Rankings for each sector remained unchanged between the two years. By size of establishments, the largest losses were in those that employed 20 to 49 people and largest increases in those that employ one to four people. KEDCo’s figures also show there are far more small businesses in the county than those that employ upward of 100 people.
